The Good, the Bad & the Ugly - Melb v WCE

[melbournemartin]

Just a quick one from me as I was pretty disappointed overall.

Good:

-Scully
-Trengove
-Bennell's run, although not perfect, was fantastic to see
-Warnock
-Jones
-My acquisition of Beau Waters' mouth guard.
-Mr Whippy van outside the ground
Bad

-Strauss (yeah he's young etc etc but he looks a long way off right now. Sure, he's a good kick but so was Chris Johnson)
-Sylvia's injury
-Over handballing and not kicking
-No CHF presence, most likely creating the above issue.
-Players trying to stab every ****ing kick. Not only are they are to mark but they are not necessary unless your teammate has an opponent right on him. STOP KICKING IT TO HIS FEET!

Ugly:

-The roads leading to Casey Fields. Luckily I gave myself plenty of time but Dad wasn't so lucky.

 

[larrikin]

Ugly:

-The roads leading to Casey Fields. Luckily I gave myself plenty of time but Dad wasn't so lucky.

Yep

That was terrible, missed most of the first quarter

Great venue, but access is a real issue

 

[CM Sean]

Sylvia HAS a broken jaw!!!

 

[melbournemartin]

Yep

That was terrible, missed most of the first quarter

Great venue, but access is a real issue

Need to give yourself plenty of time. I got there at 1.15 and barely had any traffic and had taken a wrong turnoff.

 

[The Falcon Strike]

Good, honest bump. Nothing to worry about.

unfortunately your view and my view of what a fair bump is - varies from the afl MRP.

MRP seems to be outcome based - broken jaw = weeks.

hopefully he gets off - hopefully the lack of tv evidence helps him

Chin up Dees fans - it only takes a win or two for young fellas to get some confidence - we went on a run late last year - it only takes a good month of footy to ensure you get to 7 or 8 wins

 

[pezz]

Im hammered
we are shit and going no where
it makes me sick

 

[Pipefitter]

I think the dawn of a new season regardless of the previous year gives you a new dawn of hope. Most of us have over-rated how far we will progress this year. We will most likely finish bottom 2 again and yesterday came up against a team that will definetely make the 8. The result isnt surprising when you think about it.

The Eagles bottomed out the round the same time we did but the difference is they actually have some senior superstars in Cox and Kerr etc which makes the trip up the ladder a hell of a lot quicker.

 

[cannons]

That's a good call, Pipefitter.

It's very easy to get excited about a plethora of top draft picks, but we have to remember they will take time to adjust to AFL football. It's no coincidence that our best players yesterday were the guys with the most AFL experience.

Still, I think Trengove and Scully continue to show good signs, and Strauss has an amazing kick, even if his decision making was lacking a bit yesterday.

Overall, I think we have plenty to look forward to once the younger players have matured and spent more time on the big stage.

 

[Crusty Demon]

I think the dawn of a new season regardless of the previous year gives you a new dawn of hope. Most of us have over-rated how far we will progress this year. We will most likely finish bottom 2 again and yesterday came up against a team that will definetely make the 8. The result isnt surprising when you think about it.

The Eagles bottomed out the round the same time we did but the difference is they actually have some senior superstars in Cox and Kerr etc which makes the trip up the ladder a hell of a lot quicker.

I'll agree with Dean Cox, but Daniel Kerr has hardly played a game in anger the last couple of seasons. The difference to me is that West Coast have been able to put muscle quickly on their kids which gives them confidence to take the field. Our players seem to struggle to put on any muscle at all. The skill comparisons was also quite significant. Whether that comes down to our coaching methods, or possibly we over rated a lot of these players at draft time. Maric and Strauss both have been targeted purely for their skills, and yet both seem to struggle to hit targets 30 metres away. Watching the Bulldogs and Saints last night and the amount of pressure these guys place on the ball carrier was amazing to watch! We don't seem to place that amount of pressure on teams. This is something we desperately need to work on as well. We won't kick many high scores this year, so our pressure on the opposition has to be nothing short of 100% effort, or we could be on the end of some thumpings. I'd hate to see Bailey resort back to flooding to minimize the damage. As a Melbourne member that's the last thing i want to see.

 

[wowlace]

I can see a Terry Wallace situation brewing.

 

[Andy_Mac]

I penned a diatribe of similar proportions to war and peace last night that was all about the doom and gloom echoing the views shared by others, but having slept on it I’m not feeling as down on our current predicament.

WCE like Essendon a couple of weeks prior were basically at full strength, we were no where near it in either game yet up until 3qtr time we were in the game up to our eye balls, against Adelaide in SA we should have/could have won it. It is really only the Freo game at Subi where we got blown away. Had we have had; Rivers, Morton, Jurrah, Grimes, Wonna, Garland and Sylvia all running around in the last quarter would west coast have been able to run away with the game? There are 7 players that at least 6 out of 7 are in our best 18 when fully fit. We finished last last year so are coming off a lower base already and now we are expecting players not in the top 30 at the club to win us games? Did WCE have 3 blokes from their rookie list running around yesterday? We did.

Specifically.

The good:

• Tom Scully. Whilst Trengove comes with the senior experience I saw yesterday why Scully went at 1. The kid is good, very good. Makes Jones look like an amateur.
• Bennell. Has not gone backwards. He is just rushing his disposals. He does all the hard things then when he gets himself into a bit of space he stabs at the ball rather than kick through it.
• The pressure and intensity we put on for the first 3 quarters. The just looked really tied in the last. With so many kids and the likes of Bruce and Bate playing there first practice matches it’s going to happen.
• Mark Jamar is actually a bloody good ruck option. He needs to stay fit!
• Once we got the third and fourth handball out into space our run and carry looked fantastic.

The Bad:

• We handball the thing an awful lot. At time I had to reassure myself Neil Balme wasn’t back in the box. I think the over use of the handball is not purely by design but a mixture of our position style game and not having any real marking targets to straighten us up. Although I rate Miller miles ahead of Bate in this respect.
• Nathan Jones is going to struggle to keep up with the development of the younger players. He just lacks pace which intern doesn’t allow him the time to dispose of the ball properly. Every kick ends up him just throwing it on his boot and hoping for the best.
• Aaron Davey is just not imposing himself on games.

The Ugly:

• Like Biff said, the kick ins. It appears Bailey had instructed them to hold the ball up until everyone had manned up one of the zoning defender.
• JMAC’s up and under mongrel punts into the forward line. Someone needs to tell him it’s not 2006 and David Neitz is not going to crash the pack. Turnover.

 

[Big Cox]

We did go into the game without Glass Hurn McKinley Lynch Dalziell who would probably represent 5 of our best 25 so its not like we were at peak especially with the low gametime Cox and Priddis got.

You cant help but notice from the pictures just how much bigger our guys are compared to yours. Your suffering from Richmond syndrome when all the youngsters you get still look like twigs when they hit 23. Koby Stevens is 18 and a first year player and he is about three times the size of Adam Marric. Somethings not right about that...

 

[Higgs Boson]

We did go into the game without Glass Hurn McKinley Lynch Dalziell who would probably represent 5 of our best 25 so its not like we were at peak especially with the low gametime Cox and Priddis got.

You cant help but notice from the pictures just how much bigger our guys are compared to yours. Your suffering from Richmond syndrome when all the youngsters you get still look like twigs when they hit 23. Koby Stevens is 18 and a first year player and he is about three times the size of Adam Marric. Somethings not right about that...

Agree. Something is just not quite right...

Your coach is a pharmacist by trade, is he not?

 

[Andy_Mac]

We did go into the game without Glass Hurn McKinley Lynch Dalziell who would probably represent 5 of our best 25 so its not like we were at peak especially with the low gametime Cox and Priddis got.

Agreed. But the players I listed are all walk up starts in our best 22, most if not all would be on the ground when the game is there to be won. Of that list only Glass and maybe Hurn or McKinley would be a lock every week.

I think the positive is that we had three rookie listed players playing; we all know about the injuries but we were leading at the 25 minute mark of the third quarter. Had we have kicked straight early the game could have ended up very differently!

I’m really not too fussed about the result. I think the game just got away from us in the last quarter and they extended with late goals. Whilst I thought on the day we could have been good enough to win, West Coast are fighting for a spot in the finals and as such won the game.

 

[wonna]

How bout,

good- 11,500 people, vast majority demon fans, making it to an outer SE suburbs footy ground to see a depleated and malcoached last years wooden spooners play a practice match.

should outweigh the glaring and numerous bad and ugly... well maybe not but it's good.

 

[Total_Juddshanks]

Agreed. But the players I listed are all walk up starts in our best 22, most if not all would be on the ground when the game is there to be won. Of that list only Glass and maybe Hurn or McKinley would be a lock every week

*maybe* Hurn? he (imo unluckily) finished 2nd in our B&F last year..

For what its worth, Lynch, Hurn and Glass are unquestionably walk up starts each week, McKinley is generally so, and Dalziell is obviously too early to tell- you're not a best 22 player before you've played a real game for your club.

 

[whelan=legend]

We did go into the game without Glass Hurn McKinley Lynch Dalziell who would probably represent 5 of our best 25 so its not like we were at peak especially with the low gametime Cox and Priddis got.

You cant help but notice from the pictures just how much bigger our guys are compared to yours. Your suffering from Richmond syndrome when all the youngsters you get still look like twigs when they hit 23. Koby Stevens is 18 and a first year player and he is about three times the size of Adam Marric. Somethings not right about that...

That is so idiotic. That's like me saying compare Luke Tapscott to Adam Selwood. Tool.

 

[master bate]

That is so idiotic. That's like me saying compare Luke Tapscott to Adam Selwood. Tool.

The example may have been poor but the point is valid.

We marvel at the size of Frawley - but all of WC talls have a similar build. Cale Morton would probably look a respectable size if WC had drafted him. Tom Swift looked much bigger after a preseason, how long will it take Scully and Gysberts to get their strength up - and will we injure them in the process.

Another thing is that WC had a lot of their talented highly rated youngsters up and performing yesterday. In those 2007/2008 drafts where both clubs took 6 players inside pick 25 all of WC's were out there: Masten, Ebert, S. Selwood, NicNat, Shuey, Swift. We had 3 injured (Morton, Watts, Blease), Grimes rested and only Maric and Strauss getting a run. Don't get me wrong I'm not using that as an excuse for yesterday, and I don't want to start the we should have drafted their guys stuff again, but we have to get our future out there playing even in NAB challenge matches to help them improve.

 

[bing181]

It is an indictment on our club, however, that he is a two-time winner of the Bluey.

... and one time All-Australian.

B

 

[MFCforever]

Good - Strauss' footskills

Bad - Sylvia's suspected broken jaw

Ugly - The morons standing next to me throughout the course of the match

Same goes we had dumb ass Eagles supporters next us swearing at the top of their voices. It got to a point where I had to pull them up as I was there with my missus and little baby girl and had enough. There were about 5-6 of them and I thank the brother behind me for backing me up when needed.

Good- Dees supporters out in numbers. Nice 1. 12,000+

Bad- I think we're in for another tuff season. But hang in there fellow Demon supporters.

Ugly- Traffic outta there! No beer at half time!

Stick fat Dees!

 

[LITTLE STINGA]

I can't believe how many supporters didn't expect this. We brought in a very poor team hit by injuries, any team would have beaten us. If it was at West Coast we would of copped a hiding. Injuries hurt good teams but they kill poor teams. We have our excuses in that we are still at a dump of a ground that should of been bulldozed decades ago. Our affiliate has better facilities WHAT A JOKE.

We have no excuses once we are at the bubbledome with their state of the art facilties. Personally I don't want to see Jurrah and Morton and a few other kids out on the field until they have no necks like Tapscott. Our important players simply aren't big enough and hopefully we can get rid of those clowns in the fitness\conditioning department. They have had 3 years to sort it out but haven't. Time for fresh faces, fresh ideas in that area.

I wish I was typing this later in the season or not at all, but the season is already a write off. We have to take another step backwards to go forward, I can't see us improving at all. We had our chance to fast track a bit but we decided get rid of our leading goal kicker which I think was a mistake but I can live with that, but our gutless decision not to take Ball was a disgrace that we will be paying for for the next 4 years. We need experienced that can play to help out the young guns that we already got. ATM we are just throwing them out to the wolves.

Let's face it Jurrah brought in false hope. We just thought that he would kick a lazy 5 goals a game and the club would evolve around him. He's an important player but he isn't the saviour, he's not tall or strong enough for a start.

We unfortunately still need to continue to tank, we can't afford not to. Bailey's plan has been to improve through the draft, we couldn't possibly be done yet. If we are doing this they must realise that Scully, Trengove and Watts are 18 and Morton and Jarrah are 20 and 21 with 18 year old bodies. Realistically once these kids turn 22 then we should start challenging for a flag. That is still 2 to 4 years away so we are still in for a lot more pain until then. We just have to stick with the club and hope that some kids can improve and that we can finally find some leaders with pick 4 and 6 in hand and be glad when 2010 is over so we can look forward to hopefully an injury free 2011.

 

[Dez!]

I can't believe how many supporters didn't expect this. We brought in a very poor team hit by injuries, any team would have beaten us. If it was at West Coast we would of copped a hiding. Injuries hurt good teams but they kill poor teams. We have our excuses in that we are still at a dump of a ground that should of been bulldozed decades ago. Our affiliate has better facilities WHAT A JOKE.

We have no excuses once we are at the bubbledome with their state of the art facilties. Personally I don't want to see Jurrah and Morton and a few other kids out on the field until they have no necks like Tapscott. Our important players simply aren't big enough and hopefully we can get rid of those clowns in the fitness\conditioning department. They have had 3 years to sort it out but haven't. Time for fresh faces, fresh ideas in that area.

I wish I was typing this later in the season or not at all, but the season is already a write off. We have to take another step backwards to go forward, I can't see us improving at all. We had our chance to fast track a bit but we decided get rid of our leading goal kicker which I think was a mistake but I can live with that, but our gutless decision not to take Ball was a disgrace that we will be paying for for the next 4 years. We need experienced that can play to help out the young guns that we already got. ATM we are just throwing them out to the wolves.

Let's face it Jurrah brought in false hope. We just thought that he would kick a lazy 5 goals a game and the club would evolve around him. He's an important player but he isn't the saviour, he's not tall or strong enough for a start.

We unfortunately still need to continue to tank, we can't afford not to. Bailey's plan has been to improve through the draft, we couldn't possibly be done yet. If we are doing this they must realise that Scully, Trengove and Watts are 18 and Morton and Jarrah are 20 and 21 with 18 year old bodies. Realistically once these kids turn 22 then we should start challenging for a flag. That is still 2 to 4 years away so we are still in for a lot more pain until then. We just have to stick with the club and hope that some kids can improve and that we can finally find some leaders with pick 4 and 6 in hand and be glad when 2010 is over so we can look forward to hopefully an injury free 2011.

No we don't.

People just need to understand that climbing up the ladder takes time and they need to be patient.

Also everybody really needs to stop calling this season a write-off when we have yet to even get to round 1, football is an unpredictable game and can bring unexpected results.

 

[Demonheart]

Luke Ball?

Wow, just wow. Luke Ball would add very little to our side, all he'd do is stop a kid from receiving much needed game time.

 

[LITTLE STINGA]

No we don't.

People just need to understand that climbing up the ladder takes time and they need to be patient.

Also everybody really needs to stop calling this season a write-off when we have yet to even get to round 1, football is an unpredictable game and can bring unexpected results.

I think we need as many quality young kids as possible. Even though pick 4 and 6 is not as good as 1&2 they still should be good kids and getting 2 top picks in the top 10 is better than 1 or 0.
The last thing I want to see is us over achieve and see us win 5 to 8 meaningless games when we are clearly not ready to challenge for the 8. Remember Richmond last year coming into the season having good form after winning a lot of meaningless games at the end of the season and having just picked up Cousins and lots of people thought they would make the 8. What happened? Reality hit that they had actually over achieved in '08 and actually weren't any good. I don't want to see anything like that happen to this club.

 

[davey_magik]

Pretty sure we can't get PPs this year anyway?